The Lift
by Jensti
Summary: Seto and Mai. A confined space. If you want to see how get on and enjoy a light-hearted romantic/comedy then you may enjoy this. Give it a go!
1. The Rise and Fall

Seto Kaiba entered the lift. He turned to face the panel of lights that indicated all the floors. His slender fingers moved towards the button he wanted when he noticed a commotion in the lobby area. A woman was rushing towards the lift yelling at people to get out of her way, her long legs moving improbably fast in her high heels.

'Hey, hold that lift!' she called.

The woman was dressed in the smallest hot pants Seto had ever seen and her generous breasts were bouncing wildly in a ridiculously tight lace up corset. Recognising her, Seto inconspicuously pressed the button, hoping that the doors would close; quickly.

The woman got to the lift just as the mechanism was whirring into action. She lithely side stepped through the narrowing gap and then propped herself against the wall, breathing heavily.

'I guess you didn't hear me huh?' she said, face still towards the ground.

'No, I heard you just fine; in fact it's difficult to ignore such an entrance to what is usually a refined environment.' Seto sneered in distain.

The woman looked up in surprise, not expecting to be spoken to like this by a stranger. She glanced at the man properly for the first time and her surprise vanished.

'Seto Kaiba, I might have known it was you. No one else is able to give such a warm and welcoming greeting.' the woman snapped sarcastically.

'Nice to see you too, Mai,' Seto replied coldly. He turned away, looking up at the digital display that was quickly counting upwards towards their destination. 'I didn't see your name on the duellists records for this event. I take it you'll be in cheerleading mode today?' he said with scorn clear in his voice.

Mai was about to answer when there was a sound of an explosion. The lift shook wildly throwing them both to the floor. Seto was the first back on his feet, barking questions into the small communications unit he wore attached to the collar of his coat. Mai got shakily to her feet.

'What's going on?' she asked, but Seto ignored her.

'Hello? Hello? Can anyone… damn it!' Seto swore.

'No one want to talk to you huh? Shocker!' Mai smiled sweetly and Seto glared dangerously at her.

Mai's smile abruptly vanished, the lift was making an ominous sound, like metal scraping metal and, if Mai had to guess, some strong joints tearing away from their housing.

'Oh hell' Mai turned to look sharply at Seto who had spoken those two word with a worrying foreboding. He had stopped talking into his communicator and was looking up.

Mai followed his gaze although she was unsure of what she was looking at. Suddenly there was a sharp 'snap' and a noise like a whip as the lift cable broke.

Mai screamed as the lift jolted suddenly and began to fall. As the lights flickered on and off she saw that the floor display above the door was still working although it was only managing to show one number in every ten as the lift gathered speed. She looked desperately at Seto but for once even he looked stunned as he stood motionless, still staring at the ceiling.

A high pitched screeching noise filled the air, there was a smell of burning and the lift began to shudder wildly. Mai could feel the lift slowing, clearly the backup safely mechanism had kicked in. She took in a gasp of air, realising that she had been unconsciously holding her breath. She looked at Seto, and he quickly glanced at her, the smallest of smiles on his face, as if to tell her they would be alright – and then the lift hit the bottom of the shaft.

_bdbdbdbd_

All Mai could remember about the impact was the sensation of being lifted off her feet and then thrown to the floor with incredible force. The lights had given out completely but she had heard the noise of something shattering and had felt a sharp stinging pain in her shoulder.

Now, as she lay motionless in the darkness, her senses seemed heightened. She could hear electrical sparks and the groan of twisting metal. Closer-by she could hear heavy, ragged breathing.

'Kaiba?' her voice came out in a soft, throaty rasp. 'Kaiba?' she managed again, stronger this time.

'Yeah, I'm here.' Came the reply, as gruff and cold sounding as ever.

'Are you okay?'

There was a pause and a rustling movement as if Seto was checking for something. 'Never better,' came the caustic reply. He made a grunting noise as he got to his feet.

_I'm fine, thanks for asking_, Mai thought bitterly. She too began to get to her feet although, in the darkness it was difficult to see what she was doing and the pain in her arm flared up again suddenly causing her to wince and bite her lip in pain. She was glad for the darkness, she didn't want Kaiba seeing her weakness and sneering at it.

Mai needn't have worried as Seto had his mind firmly on other things. Ignoring the pain down one side where he had landed heavily, he was now busily feeling along the wall of the lift, his delicate hands moving swiftly over buckled metal until he found what he was looking for. The control panel. Seto's fingers trailed slowly and methodically over the same buttons that he had calmly pushed just minutes ago before all the chaos had begun. How quickly events can change he thought bitterly.

He knew it was futile trying to figure out at what had happened. Any number of things could have caused the lift to fall and, until he had some evidence, any speculation would be pointless guesswork.

His fingers found the edge of the panel. The violent crash landing had caused the metal to lift away from the wall slightly and it was easy enough for Seto to get his fingers beneath and prise it away from the wall. The blackness in the lift was almost suffocating, broken only by the tiny pin pricks of light that came from the occasional spark. Anyone else would have given up on the tangle of invisible wires figuring that such a mass of cables would be impossible to decipher in the dark, but Seto wasn't daunted. He was, after all, a world leading expert at electronics and technology. Okay, so lifts weren't a speciality of his but if you could design and build a jet-engine airplane as Seto had, then how hard could a lift be?

Mai could hear the fevered scrabbling noises that Seto was making. She was on her feet now although her head was throbbing, the pain in her arm had lessened; it felt almost numb now, which she supposed was good. Kaiba was clearly doing something useful although she had absolutely no idea what it was. Whilst obviously grateful that he knew what he was doing Mai felt a slight sting of pride. _I'm not going to stand around for that arrogant bastard Kaiba to rescue me,_ she thought bitterly_, I'd never hear the end of it and anyway, Mai Valentine is anything but a damsel in distress!_

She began to feel her way along the wall towards the doors, if she could just prize them open, she thought. Surprising really that Kaiba hadn't thought of doing that first rather than scrabbling around with wires and whatnot. Oh well, maybe a woman's logic really was superior…

As she made her way across the floor, hugging the wall as she went, she was aware of crunching beneath her and an irritating wet, sticky substance on her hands. When a brighter than usual spark flared briefly into life above her, she saw that she was leaving a dark trail along the wall wherever she had touched it. Weird, she thought. She was nearing the doors now and could hear Kaiba's shallow, even breathing as he continued to work away. Suddenly he made a made a satisfied grunting noise, there was a click and then a low humming noise started up that grew slowly in strength before a series of electronic pings signalled the arrival of light. The overhead neon light blinked a few times as if unwilling to illuminate the scene. Finally it came on and stayed on.

Seto and Mai, who had both been staring, transfixed at the light above them swapped a brief glance before Seto went back to his wires and Mai looked squarely at the doors. They were buckled so badly that she could actually see between them, onto a black expanse of wall.

_Damn_, she thought, _so much for the doors_. She looked around the small space. The dark walnut panels that had been an indication of the luxury of the building they were in were all splintered or completely shattered. The mirror that had hung at the rear of the lift had been smashed, some of it still hung precariously in its frame but most of it was littering the floor, explaining the crunching under her feet from earlier.

Glancing over at Seto she noticed that his face was covered in small cuts. He was bleeding from a small gash above his left eye and he had to constantly brush the blood away to avoid it becoming a distraction. Looking at him Mai was taken with his determined expression. In this time of crisis he was being cool-headed and logical and Mai admired his resolve.

'So, what do you think happened?' she asked him softly.

'What, do I look like an all-seeing oracle to you?' He snapped, 'You know as much as I do, well, about this at least.' He sneered.

Mai's face went red, 'You are such a jerk Kaiba!' she hissed 'Jeez, of all the people to be stuck in a lift with!'

She walked the few paces to the opposite side of the space. It wasn't much but at least it was a little bit further away from him. As she fumed she glanced at her own reflection in the remains of the shattered mirror. She saw a stain on the arm of her jacket, where the dull throbbing persisted, and looked down at it.

'Kaiba?' she almost whispered.

'What is it now? Can't you see I'm busy trying to get us out of here?' he snarled.

'Kaiba' Mai persisted, and something in her voice made Seto turn.

The first thing he noticed was her expression. Her face, usually a picture of self confidence and pride was as white as a sheet and her usually set features showed fear. She looked down again at her arm and Seto followed her gaze and his eyes widened. Blood was welling through a large tear in her jacket. It ran down her arm and was dripping off the finger tips of her limp hand.

'I think I have a problem…' she managed to murmur before consciousness slipped away from her and she was falling to the ground.


	2. Rock Bottom

Mai was gradually becoming aware of a soft tapping noise. She opened her eyes, only to shut them again quickly against the harsh glare of the neon light above her.

Oh, right, she thought, remembering what had happened, the lift.

Without opening her eyes she did a mental appraisal of her situation. Her arm was still throbbing although the pain had died down again – clearly the shock of seeing her injury had caused her to pass out. Or maybe she just hadn't realised just how much pain she was in until her eyes had shown her. Weird the way your mind works, she thought. She tried to move her arm but it seemed to be trapped. She was lying on the hard marble-effect floor of the lift but her head appeared to be cushioned by something. The worst thing of course was the fact that she strongly suspected that she was still trapped in a small space with an obnoxious brat. She opened her eyes again, slower this time. Tilting her head to one side she caught sight of Kaiba. _Still working at his damn techno stuff I see_, she thought sneeringly. _I'm surprised that he even bothered to look when I fainted, I expect he just went straight back to his wires._ She looked at him, scowling. Something about him looked different and she couldn't quite make out what. His face was still set and determined, his blue eyes glittering as he tried to solve the problem at hand. The cut above his eye had stopped bleeding and was now covered by his rich brown hair. His stance, even involved in a task like this, appeared arrogant to Mai's eyes. His dark clothes hugged his slender frame and Mai could see his arm muscles twitching through his high-necked top. The shape of his legs were clear and defined through his tight trousers which seemed to cling to every curve from his calf muscles right up to his tight – Mai blushed involuntarily, averting her eyes back to the harsh neon light above her. Then she had a thought and she looked back over at him.

'Get too hot in here for you?' she asked. Mai was satisfied to see him jump slightly at her words but he didn't look around.

'What?' he asked, getting straight back to his work.

'I asked if you were too hot. I don't think I've ever seen you without that long white coat of yours.'

'Huh,' was Seto's curt reply.

'So, what'ya do with it anyway?' Mai persisted 'Don't tell me you've melted down all those rivets and are using them in some complex technological –'

Seto finally turned on her 'Not that I would expect anything else from you but just a tiny bit of gratitude wouldn't go amiss,' he snapped.

Mai was startled, okay so she was teasing him about the coat but she didn't think it was that serious, and what was all this about gratitude? Does he want me to thank him for tapping away at some console whilst I'm flat out on the floor probably bleeding to death!

'What did I say?' she finally asked defensively.

Seto continued to look down at her, anger and irritation in his eyes. It faded slightly as he realised that Mai really hadn't meant to offend him.

'My coat,' he said and, by way of explanation, he gestured towards her.

Mai looked down to see that her arm had been bandaged up in strips of long white material. She sat up, astonished by the realisation. Looking behind her she saw that her head had been resting on a mound of white material; with rivets in.

'But you – you love that coat! At least, that is to say, you're always wearing it.' Mai said, startled. She looked over at him but he had already gone back to his hand held device.

'I'm quite fond of it, yes' Seto conceded 'but your need seemed greater and anyway, when you started to faint I managed to break you fall and you got your damn blood all over me. And I don't care what those adverts say, dried in blood is a bugger to get out of a white coat.' He paused then turned to Mai with a small smile on his lips.

Mai was so shocked that she could only gape at him. She looked down at her bandaged arm again. No wonder she couldn't move it, it was strapped up really tightly; it looked professional.

'But I thought you – ' she began, but trailed off, embarrassed by her own unkind thoughts.

'What? You thought I would let you fall and bleed to death in my own lift?' Seto let his hands drop slightly and raised his eyes to the ceiling. He shook his head softly 'Nice impression you have of me.' He said coldly and went back to work.

Mai scowled to herself. She felt stupid, mean and, most of all, helpless in this situation. Kaiba made her feel small and weak and, even though she realised she was seeing a new and surprising side to him, she resented him all the same.

She winced as she got herself to her feet. She noticed that the floor beneath her had been cleared so that she hadn't been lying on broken glass and splinters of wood and again she frowned as she realised that she had even more reason to be grateful to the conceited brat. She looked across at him. He had found a small keyboard from somewhere and was tapping away at it rapidly with one hand whilst the other hand held it steady and cradled the tangle of wires that had been crudely attached to the back of it. Mai desperately wanted to know what he was up to but didn't want to ask unless she was told that she wouldn't understand or something equally condescending.

Mai was used to people assuming she was stupid. It irked her massively but for some reason, the sight of a big-chested blond woman in skimpy clothes led people to jump to immediate conclusions. Mai was anything but stupid. She had left school as soon as she was able, bored and frustrated by the small minded people she met there. On the back of her looks she easily got jobs working in bars and casinos where she charmed and conned the customers in equal measures. She took pride in learning everything she needed to know in any given situation, teaching herself to play Duel Monsters when she realised there was money to be made from it. She was fiercely independent and even the likes of Joey, Serenity, Yugi and the others didn't know where she lived or what job she was doing at any given time. She had considered it a big step to even give Serenity her mobile number.

Yes, Mai Valentine wasn't big into making friends and sharing her private life. However, she was quickly realising that she was even more uncomfortable being forced to share a small space with and almost-stranger and having nothing to do. Whilst Kaiba seemed content to tap away at his device, Mai was starting to find the awkward silence… well, awkward.

'How long was I out for?' Mai asked finally to relieve the tension.

Seto frowned briefly. 'About ten minutes, give or take' he said curtly.

Mai looked at her reflection in the broken mirror, studying the bandaging. 'Ten minutes?' she said dubiously.

'Give or take,' Seto repeated. He looked at her, 'you seem surprised.' He raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

'No, well, yes I suppose so,' she looked again at her arm. 'It's just that this –' she indicated her bandages with her good hand, 'this looks like it must have taken a while and that's after ripping up your coat to make the bandages in the first place and then you cleared the floor, and made a pillow, all in ten minutes?' she looked at him sceptically.

'No, I cleared the floor, ripped up my coat, made bandages and then patched you up in about _five_ minutes,' Seto replied in a smug voice that made Mai's eyes narrow, 'I've been using the rest of the time to try and tap into the mainframe computers of the building in an effort to get help for us both.' He looked at her with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. 'Is that okay with you?'

Mai looked hard at him for a few moments. 'I've told you you're a jerk, right?' she finally said.

Seto smiled and turned away.

He was aware of Mai's eyes boring into the back of his head but chose to ignore her. Tapping into the mainframe was proving to be more difficult than he had expected and he was beginning to realise that the communications wiring that he had assumed would connect the lift to the outside world simply wasn't here. It made no sense to him that there wouldn't be a way to speak to someone in such a situation as this. Hell, even if there hadn't been an explosion, even if something simple had happened, like the lift getting stuck between floors, he would expect to be able to tell someone about it. That was basic stuff wasn't it? But no matter which wires he connected to his handheld device, he couldn't get the information he needed. Whilst he was careful to appear cool and aloof now Mai was awake, in truth he was getting frustrated and angry.

He regretted having told Mai what he was trying to do now. If he'd kept it quiet he might have been able to give up without losing face, telling her that he'd accomplished what he had wanted to do. Now though… He looked hard at the mass of wires, _I must have missed something_, he thought but if he had he couldn't see what. He became aware of Mai, now pacing the small room behind him.

He quite liked Mai really. Well, comparatively speaking. Of Yugi's entire band of irritating friends, Mai had always seemed to be the most level headed of them. She had never tried to lecture him about how he should be Yugi's 'friend' and generally left him alone. He also liked the way she was genuinely good at Duel Monsters, unlike the rest of the cheerleading squad who barely knew how to hold a card between them. When she had fainted Seto had instinctively rushed to catch her. He hadn't been lying when he had told her that he had found himself covered in her blood. She had been bleeding profusely and he had been amazed that the wound had gone unnoticed this long. He put it down to adrenaline but even so, he knew that most people would have suffered the effects of such a wound long before it had seriously affected Mai.

Holding her with one arm Seto had swept the glass and wood splinters out from beneath her and had laid her gently down on the floor. He had used a piece of the glass to tear his coat and had set about bandaging her up. Only once he had finished the dressing did he stop to really look at her. Her face had still been pale but her features had softened until she looked like she was simply sleeping. He had brushed a lock of her blonde hair to one side and sat back on his haunches studying her. She was pretty, there was no denying it. Seto realised that he had never really looked at her properly before. Sure he had seen her lots of times but the way she dressed and acted, whilst on the surface designed to draw attention to her looks, actually meant that Seto had never really looked beyond the superficial; had never really seen more than her skimpy skirts and bulging cleavage. He didn't know it but this was exactly what Mai intended.

It had been an after-thought that had led Seto to gently lift Mai's head and place the remains of his beloved coat gently beneath it, noticing with surprise a gentle aroma of jasmine emanating from her mass of golden hair as it fell onto his makeshift pillow.

Now she was awake again Mai was proving to be an unwelcome distraction. He heard her stop her pacing and tensed himself for another of her attempts at conversation.

'Kaiba?'

Seto chose to ignore her thinking that she had definitely been better company unconscious.

'Kaiba?' her voice was more insistent this time.

'What?' he snapped wondering why she kept insisting on trying to talk to him. It's not as if he had been particularly chatty with her up to this point. Why couldn't she take the hint?

'Well, I was just thinking –' she started.

Seto clicked his tongue impatiently, was this going to be another of her – let's try the doors - ideas? Obvious and a waste of time?

Hearing the tongue click Mai lost patience 'Uhh!' she exclaimed, disgusted 'God you're just – uhh!' she stamped her foot and turned away towards the mirror muttering audibly 'jerk, jerk, jerk!'.

Seto smiled to himself, he loved to get under people's skin like this. He tried to regain his concentration but found it shattered again by the sound of glass breaking. He turned around, glaring. What now?

Mai stood at the back of the lift where the remains of the mirror had been. She had taken a twisted piece of metal and had used it to smash away the last pieces of glass and now stood with a shower of reflective mirror pieces around her feet. She gave Seto a fierce look.

'I just wanted to say' she said in voice so sharp Seto actually flinched slightly, 'that I thought I saw a camera light behind this mirror and that maybe, if you're looking for a way to contact someone who might be able to help us, this could be the set of wires and cables you're looking for.'

Seto stared in amazement. Mai stood before him in a stance and expression that looked for all the world like she would happily come at him with the metal pole should he choose to say the wrong thing. Even her bandaged arm didn't distract from her look of absolute ferocity.

Seto worked at keeping his face neutral in spite of the range of emotions he was feeling. First he was naturally a bit shocked at being in a confined space with this violent looking woman, second he was pleased to see that she had solved his communications problem although this led onto his third emotion which was annoyance that she had found the solution and not him. The final emotion Seto felt was the most startling and unexpected. Looking at Mai, her face red with anger her expression one of hatred, he caught himself admiring her strength and defiance. Owning a powerful company like he did, Seto rarely come across anyone so willing to say exactly what they thought of him, and certainly not in such an up front way! It was refreshing, if a little alarming.

'Yes, this does look promising,' he conceded coolly.

Giving Mai the thinnest of smiles he pushed past her, disturbingly aware of the heat coming from her body, the rise and fall of her chest as she worked to regain her composure and that faint smell of jasmine again. He looked at the camera; of course, it made sense that they would have installed hidden cameras in these lifts. A lot of business people came to this building. Most of them were legitimate but there were also some unsavoury types who were well worth keeping an eye on. The fact that the small red light was still on indicated that someone could know he was here, was maybe watching him on some small security screen right now. Despite the level of hope that the thought instilled in him he still felt slightly uncomfortable about it.

Seto caught hold of the small wire that provided the feed from the camera and then followed it down eventually pulling up exactly what he had been looking for – a small intercom speaker. The speaker itself had been broken, a large crack in it showed that the insides were in a bit of a mess but Kaiba considered that it shouldn't be too much of a job to get something fixed up to it.

'Mai, fetch me my handheld computer,' Kaiba commanded kneeling down by the contraption and already intently sorting through the wires. He heard silence behind him and turned his head, wondering why Mai wasn't doing as he had asked.

She looked at him; stony faced her good hand on her hip. She raised an eyebrow pointedly.

_What? Seto thought, what does she want now?_ He looked at her as she began to tap her foot. _Does she want me to… of for heaven's sake!_

'Please,' he added, and scowled to himself as she gave him a cheerless smile and walked across to get his computer.

Returning to him a moment later having unceremoniously yanked out all the connecting wires with a force that made Seto wince, Mai smiled sweetly as she held the device out to him He reached for it but found it snatched out of his grasp at the last moment. Mai raised her eyebrow again, clearly enjoying herself.

Seto gave her his hardest look. 'Thank you,' he said through gritted teeth and Mai handed over his property with a smirk and turned away, propping herself up against the opposite wall and staring at him.

A cold silence fell on the room again as Kaiba began work once more.


	3. Contact with the Outside World

Mai looked up as a sudden sound of static filled the room. Crossing the short distance towards Kaiba she knelt down beside him eagerly trying to see what was going on.

It had been about fifteen minutes since Seto had begun work on the intercom system and in that time they had both continued to sulk in silence although neither would have admitted to such a thing. Now though the hope of finding a way out of the situation, away from each other, brought them to both be huddled together in the corner of the lift staring hopefully at Kaiba's hand held computer which was making the scratchy sound of static.

Seto lifted the small microphone that had made up part of the lift's original system. He tapped a button on his computer and leaned forwards.

'Hello?' he tapped a button on the computer again, switching the feed from transmit to receive… nothing.

'Hello?' he repeated, louder this time. 'Can you hear me? This is Seto Kaiba. Come in.'

Click the button… nothing.

'Damn,' Seto said softly.

'Try again,' Mai urged looking at him encouragingly, all thought of animosity briefly pushed to one side.

'Hello? Can you hear me? This is Seto Kaiba. I need assistance. Come in please.'

Click the button…

Seto's thin fingers were poised once more to switch back to transmit when Mai stopped him.

'Wait,' she said softly. 'Listen.'

They both leaned in closer and Seto suddenly heard what Mai had – a quiet tinny voice.

'It must be the frequency,' Seto said quickly adjusting something on the display. He pushed another button.

'- read me? Mr Kaiba? Can you –'

Seto grinned at Mai who smiled warmly in return.

'Yes, yes I can hear you. Who is this?'

'Murdoch sir, from the security team. We sure are glad to have located you sir we've been –'

'Never mind that, tell me what's going on up there. Was there some sort of lift malfunction?'

'Err no sir. It's all a bit chaotic at the moment sir, but it seems like there has been some sort of explosion.'

'I could tell that' Seto snapped, 'what caused it?'

'Err. We're not certain at the moment sir, but early indicators imply that it could have been a bomb sir.' Seto and Mai exchanged looks. 'On the upper duelling level,' Murdoch continued, 'it was placed in the lift foyer. I can tell you, the place is quite a mess sir.'

There was a long silence.

'Err, sir?' Murdoch's questioning voice broke the silence.

'Yes I'm still here,' Seto answered the unasked question. 'Tell me Murdoch, are there any casualties?' His voice suddenly seemed tight and his hands, still gripping the microphone and his computer, showed white knuckles.

'Err, only reports are of minor injuries sir. Not everyone had been accounted for yet though. The emergency services are on the scene.'

'What about Mokuba?' Mai looked at Seto, startled by the sudden emotion in his voice.

'Oh err, Mokuba Kaiba is fine sir. He's helping evacuate the building. He's been pretty keen to find you sir.'

Kaiba's shoulders visibly slumped in relief and he lowered his head. Mai reached over and took the microphone from the now limp hand.

'Murdoch?' she said softly.

'Err yes, umm, who's this?' He seemed surprised by the sudden change of voice.

'Murdoch, this is Mai Valentine. I'm stuck in this lift too and I need you to do something for me.'

'Yes?'

'I came here to see my friend, Yugi Moto, duel. He would have been with a group of people. A tall, dark haired guy, a guy with a dice earring, a good looking blond guy and two girls,' she paused almost scared to ask the question, 'do you know if they're okay?'

'Err well,' the reply came after a moment's pause, 'I'm not sure about everyone you're asking about but Mr Moto wasn't near the blast at the time. He's been helping Mokuba and there were a whole bunch of them who seemed to know each other. I'm sorry I can't be more specific Miss Valentine.'

Mai smiled, 'That's fine Murdoch, thank you.' She said sweetly and handed the microphone back to Kaiba who seemed to have recovered.

'Murdoch?' he said sharply.

'Err yes Mr Kaiba sir?'

'Have you got the video feed from this lift?'

'Err well, I just came in here to check that sir on Mr Kaiba's – err Mokuba's instructions to find you. Then I heard you on the intercom.'

'Turn on the monitors Murdoch.'

There was a brief pause and the noise of scrabbling from the other end of the line. Finally Murdoch's voice came through.

'Oh, there you are! Hi!'

Seto had the impression that Murdoch was waving at them in the monitor and he rolled his eyes.

'Murdoch, listen carefully. The intercom system in this lift is broken and the only way I'm able to contact you is through the use of my computer and I can't risk the batteries running down so this is what we're going to do. You're going to stay there and watch the camera feed, if I need you I'll make it clear and I'll then link up to the intercom again. If you need me just turn the camera feed switch on and off. The red light will act as an indicator that you have some news. Got that?'

'Oh umm yes. On and off – got it.'

'If I don't respond straight away just keep doing it – right?'

'Right.'

'Meanwhile, let Mokuba know that I'm okay and tell Miss Valentine's friends the same about her. Miss Valentine has an injured arm,' he indicated for Mai to show her arm to the monitor which she dutifully did, giving Murdoch a little wave that caused Seto to roll his eyes again, 'it's bandaged up for the time being but the wound needs to be properly looked at. Make sure you have doctors on hand when you get us out.'

'Yes sir.' Murdoch sounded like he was trying to write all this down.

'And one last thing Murdoch...'

'Err, yes sir?'

'Get us the hell out of this lift as soon as possible!'

'Oh! Yes sir!'

Kaiba snapped his computer shut and disconnected it from the wires being careful to keep the necessary wires separate for later use.

A silence fell on the room again as both Kaiba and Mai took in what they had just heard.

'He seemed nice,' Mai said finally.

Seto rolled his eyes again. 'Do you feel the need to flirt with everybody?' he asked caustically.

Mai gave him a sweet, sarcastic smile. 'I've never felt the need to flirt with you,' she said matter-of-factly before twisting cat-like to her feet and walking back to the other side of the room.

Seto shifted round and sat with his back against the wall, his knees drawn up towards his chest. He frowned.

'So, is this a regular occurrence in your life?' Mai asked looking at him curiously.

'What, getting stuck in lifts with someone who can't stop talking?' Kaiba snapped pointedly.

'Nooo,' Mai said choosing to ignore his comment, 'is having someone try to kill you a regular occurrence?'

Seto looked up at her in surprise. 'There's no proof that bomb was meant for me,' he said defensively.

Mai raised her eyebrow at him and Seto held her look for a few moments before shrugging and saying nonchalantly, 'I'd be lying if I said this was the first time.'

'Huh' said Mai, unimpressed.

'No one's ever used a bomb before though,' Seto continued, 'that's a novelty at least.'

Mai looked hard at him. She couldn't tell if he was joking or not. She'd only been teasing him when she'd suggested that the bomb had been an assassination attempt, she hadn't expected this.

'So, err,' Mai struggled to appear as cool as him; act like she hadn't been wrong-footed by the whole conversation. 'Who do you think it was then?' she asked calmly.

Seto's brows furrowed in thought. He'd been wondering that himself. 'Well,' he said finally, 'there are a few possibilities.'

Mai looked across at him incredulously, all pretence at nonchalance gone. 'Are you trying to tell me that someone is trying to kill you and it could be a _number_ of different people?' she asked, stunned. 'Jeez, Kaiba I mean, I know you're obnoxious and rude and all but seriously – a _number_ of people!' She slid down to the floor opposite Kaiba and shook her head in wonder.

Seto was confused. By her tone he had assumed that she had reached the same conclusion that he had – a bomb, that had been rigged up by the exit of a lift he was travelling in and primed to go off at almost the exact time that he would have stepped from it, at an event that it had been widely publicised that he would attend… He could be wrong of course but it seemed like a bit of a coincidence. He looked across at Mai and felt uncomfortable under her shocked gaze.

'Well you have to understand,' he started, slightly irritated at the apologetic tone in his own voice, 'my adoptive father used to have contracts with all sorts of clients. He used to deal in weapons so you can imagine the pleasant clientele he was dealing with. When I took over Kaiba Corp I took it in a different direction and cut off our dealings with the less savoury side of the business and that didn't go down well with some people.' He shrugged again.

Mai continued to stare at him as if she didn't understand what she was seeing or hearing. 'So,' she said after a long pause, 'it's not all fun and games being the richest kid in town huh?'

Kaiba gave her a long look. 'No,' he said shortly.

They lapsed back into silence.


	4. Small Talk

'So.'

Mai jumped and even Seto winced slightly at the sound of his own voice which sounded strangely loud in the quiet of the lift. It had been more than half an hour since either of them had last said anything and even Kaiba was beginning to feel the pressure of the silence now that he had no techno fiddling to do.

He coughed slightly. 'So,' he began again, 'I've not seen your name on any tournament listings for a while. What have you been up to?'

Mai looked at him, surprised. Was the mighty Seto Kaiba actually making small talk? She marvelled with a smile. She considered teasing him about it but figured he'd just lapse back into a sulky silence and the silence was driving her insane. Instead she gave him his answer: 'I've decided to take a break from Duel Monsters for a while.'

Seto was surprised. Mai Valentine was one of the best duellists he knew, regularly breezing her way to the finals in competitions with an aggressive style that wasn't dissimilar to his own.

'How come?' he asked casually.

Mai shrugged 'It got boring,' she said coolly.

Seto glanced at her and she gave him an innocent smile in return. He had a fleeting suspicion that she was holding something back.

'So what, you've decided to demote yourself to being a member of Yugi's little cheerleading squad instead?' He smirked.

He expected Mai to bristle at this and was taken aback by her reaction which was to laugh, genuinely and warmly.

'God!' she said grinning, 'can you really imagine me doing that?' she laughed again.

Seto allowed himself the smallest of smiles.

'Go Yugi!' Mai cried suddenly in a mock dramatic voice, 'believe in the heart of the cards Yugi!' she began to laugh so hard that tears started forming at the corner of her eyes.

'Trust in your friendships Yugi!' Seto suddenly joined in smiling broadly now.

'Right!' Mai said pointing at Kaiba delighted to see his frosty exterior begin to melt. She got to her feet, slightly awkwardly with her bad arm but then theatrically clenched her good hand and held it over her heart. 'Trust in your friendships Yugi, and you'll always find a way to beat those baddies!'

Kaiba laughed aloud 'Okay okay! I get the picture. You're not one of his cheerleaders.'

Mai sat down again still grinning madly. Seto noticed that she had chosen to sit a little closer this time.

'Don't get me wrong,' she said more earnestly, 'they're a nice bunch of kids – a great bunch of kids in fact, and I owe Yugi a lot but' she smiled again 'if you ever catch me shouting encouragement about friendship or the heart of the cards – shoot me!'

Seto laughed again and Mai gave him a warm smile.

'You have a nice laugh Seto Kaiba,' she said.

Caught off guard by this unexpected comment Seto scowled as he felt himself blush slightly under her gaze.

Mai laughed. 'And you also have the cutest look when you're embarrassed!' she teased.

'Give me a break Mai,' Seto growled.

She laughed again and Seto had to think quickly about how he could claim the upper hand in this conversation. He had let his guard down and he was angry at himself for having done so.

'So what's the real story about the duelling?' he asked deciding that attack was the best form of defence in this situation.

Mai's smile wavered slightly. 'What do you mean? I told you, I got bored,' she said again calmly meeting his enquiring stare with a level look of her own.

Seto didn't wasn't buying it. Mai was a good bluff but he was used to people trying to pull the wool over his eyes and he recognised the tell tale signs. This line of conversation had certainly worked well to distract her from her teasing as he had intended, but now he also found himself being genuinely interested in solving this little mystery.

He shrugged to hide his intrigue. 'That's a shame,' he said, 'you always seemed like you were an okay duellist but I guess you just couldn't hack it with the big boys, huh?' It was a statement designed to get a reaction and he wasn't disappointed.

'An 'okay' duellist?' she said, mimicking his words, her own voice rising sharply in pitch and volume. 'Give it a rest Kaiba you know I was one of the best. If you'd ever dared to take me on I reckon I could have taught you a thing or two. An okay duellist indeed – ha!' she turned away from him angrily. 'At least I haven't had my arse whipped repeatedly by a sixteen year old with weird hair and a split personality,' she muttered to herself loudly enough for Seto to hear.

Seto scowled at the reference to Yugi but refused to allow himself to become distracted.

'You seem pretty passionate about something you got 'bored' of,' he commented calmly.

Mai looked at him, realising that he had been goading her. 'Yeah, well, so there was a bit more to it than that,' she admitted.

There was a long pause.

'And?'

''And' what? It's a long story,' Mai shrugged again and then added sarcastically, 'and I would hate to bore you.'

Seto looked at his watch; they had been stuck here now for over two hours. He looked over at the camera, its steady red right telling him that there had been no major progress in helping them to get out. He looked back at Mai.

'See this as a rare and wonderful opportunity, you have my full attention.' He turned himself around slightly so that he was facing Mai full on.

Startled by the intensity of his gaze and caught off guard by his expression which seemed to show no signs of his usual malice or scorn, Mai felt her face flush. The story she was being asked to tell was one that she'd not really shared with anyone before now – at least not fully, and she was pretty sure that, under normal circumstances, Seto Kaiba would probably be at the bottom of the list of people who she would choose to tell. She opened her mouth to apologise, to say that she didn't really want to talk about it. She took a small breath in and then hesitated. She glanced briefly at the unblinking camera light and then back at Seto and then, for no reason she could really understand herself she began to talk.

'Well, the last time you saw me duel was at the Battle City finals right?' she began. Seto gave a small nod. 'And I was in a duel with that Marik kid and his Winged Dragon of Ra and I got knocked unconscious.'

Seto nodded again. 'Yugi and his friends kept saying you were sent to the 'Shadow Realm'' he said scornfully.

Mai smiled faintly. 'Yeah well I have about as much time for Yugi's mystical nonsense as you do, but I will say one thing. It did really feel like I was 'sent' somewhere and it was a pretty nasty experience I can tell you. The guys told me I'd been out of it for six days but if felt… a lot longer,' she gave an involuntary shudder. 'Anyway, when I came to I felt fine. I had a laugh with the gang and thought that the whole thing was something I could put behind me and forget about. I took my leave of the group with the idea of coming over to America and working the casinos and bars and making money from duelling.'

'So what happened?'

'Nothing at first, everything went exactly to plan. I travelled to Vegas and got a job in one of the top casinos there working the tables. In the evenings I would hit the bars around town and play duels, I eventually got a name for myself as a _great_ duellist,' she emphasised the word and gave Seto a pointed look, 'and people started seeking me out. The casino bosses saw it all as a new way to take the punters for more money and so they set me up with my own duelling arena and a stage name and everything. It was going great and I was raking in the cash but I was becoming aware that something wasn't quite right. I was still enjoying myself and putting my all into every match but sometimes, I don't know, I would win before I was ready, like three turns ahead of when I was expecting to win. My bosses were telling me to slow it down, you know, to add the tension and make more of a show of it, and I tried but the same thing kept happening – it varied slightly as to the number of moves it took but the games were always quick and always over pretty decisively.

I began to get a bit lazy then. Like, there was this one time that I went out clubbing with a load of people from the casino. I stayed out all night drinking and I turned up to work with a blinding hangover. I could barely see the cards I was holding and I was up against this pretty good opponent, regional champion or something and I thought – this is it, my winning streak is over. And then I won and I couldn't even tell you how,' she smiled faintly at the memory.

'After a while the punters started to shy away, my ease at winning, against any opponent, made them assume that either I or the casino was cheating and that's when my bosses told me to start throwing a few games. Not many, they said, just enough for the punters to feel they stood a chance at the prize money.'

'I see,' Seto said nodding; he'd never throw a game for anyone or anything.

Mai smiled at him and shook her head. 'No I don't think you do,' she said knowing what he was thinking, 'you see, I'm used to casinos, I've worked in them all of my adult life and I understand how the game is played. It's basic con artist stuff and I didn't have a problem with the ethics of it but that's when I realised that I had been right about that niggling feeling. There was something wrong. I stood up on that stage facing the person I was fully intending to lose to. I played well enough to avoid suspicion, but I knew that he had the cards to beat me and that I wasn't playing the strategy I needed to win. And then… I won.

My bosses were furious, as you can imagine, they had chosen my opponent specifically so that the money would wind up back in their own bank account without too much difficulty and now they had to set the whole thing up again which they did, a week later. This time I even took the precaution of taking out some of my better cards

I played so badly that I felt sure someone would call it as a scam but then I won again. My bosses were getting pretty heavy by now. I explained the problem but they wouldn't believe me. I knew the heat was rising so I packed my stuff and got out of town. I went to Chicago for a bit and then did a bit of travelling through California. All the time I was duelling in bars and taking on anyone who cared to accept my challenge. To be honest there are a whole bunch of months that blur together in my mind. I know I was drunk for a lot of the time and playing the game so badly I should have been shot. But I never lost a single game. Ever. Then, one day I made the decision to stop duelling all together. The strain of it was driving me mad, literally. I had a feeling it was all connected to this Shadow Realm business and every time I played a duel it was reminding me of that time.'

She looked at Seto and gave him a shrug. 'So there you have it. I haven't played any duels for just over six months. I haven't even been near an arena as a spectator until today.'

There was a long silence and Mai studied Seto's expressionless face, trying to figure out what he thought of the whole thing. She was beginning to feel a bit silly – having actually told the story out loud she suddenly became aware of how ridiculous it sounded, even if she knew the painful truth.

'I told you it was a long story,' she eventually said apologetically.

Seto was deep in thought, staring sightlessly at the floor. His hand twitched and almost involuntarily moved towards the back pocket of his trousers. Seeing the move Mai sighed heavily and Seto's thoughts were broken.

'What?'

Mai shook her head, a look of tired resignation on her face. 'You want to duel me don't you?' she said her voice tense with irritation.

'What? No, I –'

Mai cut him off with a raised eyebrow and a nod towards where his hand was resting on the clear bulge of his duelling deck, already half way out of his pocket. Seto blushed slightly.

'I might have known,' Mai said sadly, getting to her feet and leaning against the wall. 'I pour my heart out and tell the story of why I can't duel any more, why the whole thing is 'terrible and traumatic' and the first thing you want to do is duel because, let me guess: this whole thing about not being able to lose is a load of nonsense and I just haven't met the right challenger yet and, well I never, you might just be the one to break my winning streak.'

Seto winced under the force of her heavy sarcasm. He felt awkward and guilty, two emotions he wasn't used to. 'Mai, I –.' he began again but one more she cut him off.

'Save it rich boy,' she said curtly, 'lucky for you you've been saved by the bell – or the little red light at any rate.' She dipped her head to indicate the security camera whose little light was now blinking on and off rapidly.


	5. Dealing

Seto was immediately on his feet reattaching his computer to the necessary wires in reaction to the flashing red light. He clicked a button.

'Hello?' he spoke into the computer.

'Well about time,' came a cheery voice from the other end of the line, 'hey bro, hey Mai.'

Seto smiled at the sound of Mokuba's voice. He looked around for Mai, expecting her to be crowding in as she had done the time before, but she was on the other side of the lift, propped up against the wall. She had looked up when Mokuba had said her name and had given the camera a small smile and a little wave before going back to studying her nails. Seto felt the uncomfortable twang of guilt again seeing her unhappiness and vowed to make it up to her later.

'Hi Mokuba,' he said warmly facing back towards the console. 'What's the situation? What's going on up there?'

'Well, the building's been evacuated and everyone who's needed it has received medical attention. Luckily the bomb was quite small and the blast was concentrated in a small area.'

'So it definitely was a bomb then?'

'Yeah, looks like someone's trying to kill you again bro,' Mokuba said with such little concern that Seto heard Mai make a small sound of disbelief. He decided that he didn't want to see the expression on her face so he pushed on.

'Does anyone else know that it was a bomb?' he asked.

There was a brief pause and when Mokuba did answer he sounded slightly nervous. 'Straight after the blast the whole place was in pandemonium. It was difficult to contain.'

'So what are you telling me?'

'Umm, the idea that it was a bomb has got out. We're not sure how but it did and now there are police all over the place and pretty much every major network broadcaster has set up camp outside,' he paused again. 'I'm sorry Seto,' he said in a small voice.

Seto sighed, having the police and the press around was the last thing he needed. 'It couldn't be helped,' he said kindly, 'just make sure that the bomb idea remains speculation, keep any statement to the press vague and make sure the police get nowhere near my office.'

'I'm on it Seto,' Mokuba said, seemingly happy again.

'How are efforts going to get us out of this lift?'

'Err, pretty well so far. There was a bit of a delay getting hold of the right equipment but that's here now. The rescue team tell me that we're going to have to try and come in from a side shaft as the shaft you're in is too unstable. They say it's going to take a while though.'

'How much of a while?' Seto asked suspiciously.

'A couple of hours – five tops,' Seto could almost feel his little brother wincing as he said it.

There was a pause and a sound of voices that Seto couldn't quite make out. When Mokuba came back on the line he sounded apologetic again.

'I've gotta go. Apparently the police want to talk to me about who would want to kill you.'

'Good luck narrowing that one down,' Mai muttered quietly.

'Oh and there's someone here who wants to talk to you Mai I'll just pass him over. Well, see you soon bro. Hope you don't get too bored, I guess it's lucky that Mai is there to keep you company, huh?'

Seto turned around to exchange a caustic look with Mai.

'Very lucky,' he said dead pan voice before standing up and exchanging places with Mai who was holding out her hands to take the computer.

'Hello?' she said curiously.

'Hey Mai!' a voice, loud, full of energy and with a very distinctive American accent filled the room.

Mai smiled warmly, 'Well hi Joey! How's it going?'

'Hey I'm cool. But what about you?' his voice dropped to what he clearly considered to be a whisper, 'Jeez, Mokuba told me you were stuck in a lift with his uptight brother and my heart just went out to you. How is that obnoxious brat? I hope he's treating you well.'

Mai grinned and turned to Kaiba who had clearly heard every word. 'Oh he's fine. Nothing I can't handle,' she said giving Seto a quick wink. He scowled back at her.

'Oh jeez, can he hear me?' Joey whispered, sounding concerned, 'I'm looking in the monitor and he's giving me one of those looks. Hey, now he's mouthing something…'

Mai quickly positioned herself between the camera and Seto. 'Focus Joey,' she said sternly trying to head off the argument that always seemed to start whenever Joey and Kaiba were in the same vicinity. 'How is everyone, did anyone get injured in the blast?'

Joey's voice returned to its usual strength 'Nah, no one was hurt by the explosion. Tristan sprained a muscle trying to lift a block of masonry that was too big for him. I think he was trying to impress Serenity at the time so it serves him right!' He laughed. 'Look Mai, there's this guy here who's telling me I can't talk long – something about batteries?'

'That'll be Murdoch,' Mai smiled, 'Hey Murdoch!' she said blowing a kiss into the camera.

'Jeez Mai – you made him blush!' Joey said, laughing again.

It was Seto's turn to make a disgusted sound from the back of the room and Mai's turn to ignore it.

'He's right Joey, you'd better go. Kaiba's not skilled enough to rig this thing up permanently without running down the batteries in his precious computer.'

'Ha!' was Seto's indignant response.

'Take care of yourself and the others.' She said fondly continuing to ignore the man behind her.

'You too Mai, we'll be here for you when they finally get you out. Catch you later rich boy!' Joey signed off with another laugh.

Silence filled the room once more as Seto moved across and worked on disconnecting the wires once more. Mai shifted so that she was sitting on the floor her long legs stretching out before her, underneath where Seto was working.

'Wheeler must be used to your flirtatiousness,' he said, studiously ignoring the shapely limbs of Mai below him, 'he didn't seem at all bothered by your flirting with Murdoch.'

Mai looked up, surprised. 'Firstly I wasn't 'flirting' with Murdoch, more sort of, 'teasing' him and secondly why on earth would Joey mind anyway?'

Seto raised an eyebrow at her.

'What, you think that Joey and I…?' her eyes widened as she realised Kaiba's assumption. 'No no no,' she said, laughing, 'no no no no no. Uh uh, never. No.' There was a long pause, 'I mean he's sweet and alright looking but… ugh! No no no. He's like a cute kid brother.'

'Like a little puppy?' Kaiba added.

'Kaiba, you're not going to get me to join in with your strange game of how many ways you can call a man a dog. Joey's a good kid and a much better duellist than you would ever give him credit for.'

Seto snorted in derision.

'Suit yourself,' Mai shrugged as Seto took a seat on the floor opposite her. 'It sure was good to hear his voice though,' she said, smiling to herself, 'he doesn't seem to have changed one little bit.'

'What, since last week?' Kaiba scoffed.

Mai looked at him blankly. 'What thinly veiled sarcastic point are you trying to make now Kaiba – I'm afraid you've lost me,' she said archly.

Seto had the sinking feeling of having been wrong footed once again. 'Well,' he started awkwardly,' it's just that Mokuba has been hosting these regular parties at the house I just assumed that – ' he trailed off lamely.

'What, that I was a regular party goer? Hey, you remember that little story I told you earlier, you know the one with all the inner turmoil and depression?' She asked coldly, 'well, shocking to say but that's kinda made me a bit of a social hermit of late. Today is the first time in a long time that I've agreed to meet up with my old friends.' She took a long exaggerated look around the lift. 'Going out sure isn't as much fun as I remember,' she said sarcastically. 'Anyway,' she said after a moment's pause, turning her violet eyes on Seto, 'if all these parties are being held at your place – haven't you been going?'

Seto laughed coldly. 'Not likely,' he said scornfully, 'The moment I begin using my leisure time to spend with that geek squad – shoot me.'

Mai smiled at the reference back to their earlier conversation. 'So what do you do with yourself while the rest of the gang are partying it up in your house?' she asked, intrigued.

Seto paused before he answered. Her phrasing was uncomfortably fitting for the way he occupied himself during Mokuba's annoying parties. _She would know exactly what I 'do with myself' if she knew about my virtual reality programme_, he thought. He briefly considered telling her about it, about the sexual fantasies that he had programmed into it but he couldn't think of a way to talk about it without it seeming impossibly sleazy. Mai, out of everyone he knew, was probably the most liberal minded (at least he assumed so), but he thought that an embarrassed silence would be even worse than the awkward silence he was getting used to.

'I work,' he answered finally.

Mai picked up on the hesitation and the small smile that had played across his lips and decided that 'work' was probably a euphemism.

''Work'?' she repeated with a raised eyebrow, ''work' doesn't really come under the dictionary definition of 'leisure time' now does it?' she teased.

'Private work,' Seto expanded. 'Personal work… a hobby if you like.'

Mai smiled at him, eyebrow still raised.

'One day, maybe I'll let you see it.' Now where had that come from? Seto felt his heart suddenly lurch at the very thought of showing someone else his machine. He had always thought he would rather burn down his entire house, with him still in it, rather than run the risk of anyone ever being able to see the machine with all its programmes. Hell, maybe he should run home and destroy the thing just for having suggested it to Mai. Still though, his heart raced with excitement at the thought and he knew that a part of him really wanted to see what Mai's reaction would be.

Mai simply smiled, unaware of the turmoil that Seto had unleashed upon himself. _Kaiba likes porn_ she thought to herself, underestimating him completely, _how sweet_.

There was a long silence as both allowed themselves to become wrapped up in their own thoughts.

'I'm sorry I was a jerk earlier,' Seto finally said, breaking the stillness.

'Which time earlier?'

Seto narrowed his eyes. He wasn't much into apologising and had just known that Mai wasn't going to make it easy for him. He hadn't been wrong.

'The only time I was a jerk earlier,' he said coldly giving her a look which warned her not to push it.

'Ohhhh… no sorry, you'll have to narrow it down,' she said, smiling at him innocently.

Seto grimaced and raised two fingers to the space between his eyebrows to ward off the ensuing frown. 'I'm sorry that, after hearing how you have struggled with duelling, I wanted to duel you. It was insensitive and I'm sorry.'

'Oh _that_ time,' Mai smiled, enjoying the teasing. She could tell that Kaiba was getting close to breaking point though so she decided to back it off, just a little bit. 'Hey, don't sweat it,' she said kindly, 'it happens all the time. I mean I don't usually tell people the whole story but the reaction is generally the same. I guess if you tell people you're invincible they kinda want to try it out.'

'It did sound a lot like an extended challenge,' Seto nodded, smiling.

'I'm serious though. I won't duel again. Not ever.'

The sadness had returned to her eyes and Seto quickly looked for a way to distract her.

'So, in Vegas, you said you had a stage name?' he asked.

'Yeah, they called me Madame Bu –'

'Butterfly,' Seto finished off for her.

'Hey, so you heard of me?'

'Yes, a while back. There were reports coming through about this amazing duellist that, you know – '

'Couldn't be beaten?'

'Something along those lines. I was going to travel up and see what all the fuss was about but suddenly all the reports dried up. I just assumed that it was some sort of urban myth or another one of those publicity stories that casinos dream up to get more business. But that was you huh?'

'That was me.'

'So, if you lived off your money from duelling that must mean you're pretty broke now?'

Mai laughed, 'Jeez Kaiba, what was it you were saying earlier about being insensitive?'

Seto realised that he'd got carried away by the story, by Mai's openness. He began to apologise again.

'Hey, don't worry. It's a valid enough question – I just hope you don't talk to heads of state like that!' she grinned. 'I made a fair amount from duelling and I still have a little nest egg from those days that I try and keep as an emergency fund. Although,' she added, smiling, 'if you're thinking of sleeping with me for my money you should bear in mind that a nest egg to me is probably an afternoon's earnings for you. These days I make my money the old fashioned way.'

'What, you mean you…?' Seto asked, stunned.

'What?' Mai suddenly realised what Kaiba had thought she had meant by 'the old fashioned way'. 'NO!' she said, shocked, 'God Kaiba, I always thought that you were rude on purpose to wind people up but now I find it comes completely naturally!' she laughed and Kaiba grinned sheepishly. 'These days I make my money playing an old fashioned game – Poker.'

'Ohhhh,' Seto said nodding his head in an exaggerated way whilst still laughing.

'Yes, 'ohhhh'! I can't believe you would think…' she laughed again her eyes shimmering with humour.

Earlier she had been kicking herself for having told Kaiba about her past. His immediate reaction had been exactly as she had feared. But now… she couldn't believe she was having a giggle about the way her life had turned out. After all the months of quiet sadness it was finally all out in the open and she was actually laughing about it. Looking across at Kaiba, his blue eyes sparkling as he laughed, she realised that surprisingly, he had been the best person to tell. She had often thought about telling the others but had always shied away, scared to face the outpourings of sympathy that they would have lavished on her. The last few months had been hell but she'd always kept it together. She had the dark feeling that, if she were to start crying about the whole thing then she simply might never stop. Kaiba's interest, mixed with his distinct lack of flowery sympathy was just right and she had a sudden overwhelming desire for him to hug her tightly, to hold her close and tell her that everything would be okay. From him, she decided, she might just believe it. She looked away quickly, lowering her eyes to try and shrug off the sudden, unexpected feeling.

Seto noticed her change of expression and mistook it for another wave of sadness. He realised that he was beginning to feel… not sorry for her, Mia simply wasn't the type of woman to be pitied, but he certainly recognised in himself a strong sense of protectiveness towards this woman. It was the same feeling he had whenever Mokuba became upset or was in any way threatened. He found himself struggling to find some way to shield her now from her own demons.

'Poker, huh?' he asked in an up beat voice.

'Yeah,' she said looking up again, 'do you play?'

'A bit. As you know, it's not my main game but I'm pretty good,' he shrugged casually.

'Pretty good huh? I wonder what 'pretty good' means in Kaiba talk,' she twisted her good arm up trying to get into the inside pocket of her jacket but the angle just wasn't working. 'Damn,' she said, giving up 'Kaiba, would you mind?'

She held her jacket open and he crawled across to her to reach up and pluck out the set of playing cards that she had been trying to extract. He was painfully aware of the closeness of her body and the heat that was rising from it and he backed away quickly.

'Do you carry a pack of playing cards everywhere you go or just when you think you're going to get stuck in a lift for several hours?' he asked wryly.

'I do believe that you weren't due to be playing Duel Monsters today and yet I see you've still managed to squeeze your duelling deck into those impossibly tight trousers of yours,' she shot back, smiling.

'That's different,' he said defensively although he knew he would struggle to say why if she challenged him. Fortunately she just smiled a little wider and let it go.

'Pass the cards – I'll shuffle.'

'I'll do it. You only have one hand.'

'Kaiba…'

'What, I'm just trying to be a gentleman.'

'It doesn't suit you,' said Mai holding out her hands and smiling as Seto moved to pass them back to her.

Just at the last moment though, he pulled the cards away from her grasp. She looked at him, startled. He was giving her a steady look with only the hint of a smile. He tapped his fingers on the ground impatiently.

Mai grinned as she realised what he was up to.

'Please,' she said as sweetly as she could.

Seto smiled and passed over the cards.

'Thank you,' Mai laughed as she deftly opened the pack one handed and began to cut and shuffle the cards with an amazing dexterity.

'Wow,' Seto marvelled, genuinely impressed, 'you're – well you're okay at this aren't you?' he teased.

'Yeah right, 'okay' – in future Kaiba I'm going to take your 'okays' to mean mind blowingly brilliant.'

'So what else are you okay at?' Seto asked playfully.

'Beat me at Poker sometime and you might find out,' Mai replied steadily although her stomach suddenly gave a quick turn as she realised that they were flirting. She arched her eyebrow at him, 'Although you probably shouldn't hold your breath.'

'Oh?'

'Well, let's just say that I'm 'okay' at poker too.'

'Okay?' Seto inquired.

'In this instance read 'practically unbeatable','

'Not again?' challenged sceptically.

'Trust me - the 'practically' makes a whole lot of difference.' Mai smiled sadly and then began to deal.


	6. Playing the Game

Seto had expected to find himself dealt with a hand for poker and was bemused to find five piles of cards laid out in front of him.

'It's been a while since I last played but this seems like a strange layout,' he commented.

'Oh, we're not playing Poker now,' Mai explained, 'it's not great with only two people and anyway, I don't have much cash on me so the betting would be a bit difficult. Of course,' she continued with a playful smile, 'we could wager other things but I've already taken your coat and I wouldn't want you to catch a cold.'

Seto laughed. 'I wouldn't worry about that,' he said, 'if you've not caught a cold from the lack of clothes you're wearing today I should be just fine.'

Mai glanced down at her low cut top and tiny shorts. 'Why Mr Kaiba, I'm sure I don't know what you mean,' she said in a mock offended voice.

'So what is all this then?' Seto asked changing the subject and indicating the piles of cards in front of him.

'Ah, now, this is a game called Speed, one of my colleagues at the club I work at taught it to me a few weeks ago. It's a two player and, lucky for you, doesn't require much more than quick reflexes and a bit of luck.'

''Lucky for me'?' Seto repeated, his eyebrows rising.

Mai gave him a wink and went on to explain the rules of the game which appeared to involve taking cards from the pile in front of him and getting them onto one of the two piles that were placed between them by going up or down on the numbered cards that were shown face up. The object was to get rid of all of your cards and 'win' the smaller of the two central piles which would then be your deck for the next round. Seto recognised elements of strategy that could be incorporated into the latter stages of the game but, in general, as Mai had said, it was mostly down to fast reactions.

'We'll play a practise round if you like,' Mai offered but Seto shook his head.

'I've got it,' he said confidently.

Mai studied him for a moment wondering if he was being arrogant; it had taken her a few goes to understand all the rules that were involved. But when he looked up at her to see what the delay was all she saw was the expression of someone who was looking forward to a new challenge.

She nodded, 'All right then, let's do this.' She said and re-laid the cards.

The first two games unsurprisingly went Mai's way. Seto was impressed by her quick movements and keen eye. Despite having one arm in bandages she still managed to outplay Seto easily and he found himself concentrating harder on winning.

The third game was closely fought with the lead changing nearly every round. In the end both players were down to one card in their hand and Mai just managed to win by having the card she needed come up first.

'Right,' she said with determination, shifting her position so that she was face onto Seto, her legs crossed in front of her, 'I can see it's time to take off the kid gloves and start playing properly.'

'Ha! Don't tell me you've been going easy on me?' Seto laughed.

'Well I didn't want for you to get despondent by whipping your arse too comprehensively early on,' she said calmly, a small twitch at the side of her mouth the only give away that she was teasing him again. 'After all, I wouldn't want you to be a sore loser and order the destruction of the whole building or anything drastic like that.' Mai looked at Seto closely for his reaction. She had an uneasy feeling that she was pushing it a bit too far this time but ever since she had seen the destruction of the Battle City duellist tower at the end of the competition she had wanted to know what had driven him to do it. She wasn't the only one, media speculation had run riot following the event with newspaper headlines all questioning why he had done it – was it really, as one paper harshly implied, a case of 'Cry Baby Kaiba' throwing his toys out of the pram?

Seto scowled at her, he had got used to the gossip that surrounded the incident and had made it a specification for any interview not to bring up the subject of the Battle City Tournament or Yugi Moto. Despite this however the event was still frequently referred to, even in articles that bore no relation to what had happened that day.

'There was more to it than that,' he said coldly, irritated that the good humour of the last hour had been broken.

'Yeah, I figured,' she said sympathetically mentally kicking herself for having brought it up. _We were getting on so well_, she thought to herself, _why do I always have to open my big mouth?_ There was a long pause. 'Wanna talk about it?' she asked kindly.

_Talk about it?_ He thought bitterly, _why does everyone always want to talk about it?_ Following the whole affair Seto had returned to his offices only to have the board of directors 'strongly suggest' that he see a psychiatrist. He had gone ballistic at the idea actually causing his long standing secretary, who had been given the onerous task of passing on the suggestion, to run from the room in terror. Eventually he had acquiesced to the idea but only for the sake of business. He was shrewd enough to know that he needed the full backing of his board members to push through all of his ideas and proving he was mentally stable would put a stop to any possible boardroom challenges. He tended to use the weekly sessions with Dr Felicity Wilkins as an opportunity for a power nap.

There had only been one occasion where she had proved semi-useful and that had only been to reduce the complex series of emotions that had led to his destruction of the duelling tower into one handy sentence. Seto remembered it simply because Dr Wilkins usually did the opposite by turning simple issues into reams of philosophical speculation and the type of verbal diarrhoea that immediately made his eyelids droop.

'There's nothing to talk about,' Seto finally answered Mai's question, 'it was simply a case of…' he looked up trying to remember the exact phrasing the doctor had used, 'me emotionally projecting my negative childhood experiences onto the tower which I saw as the physical manifestation of my adoptive father.' He fixed Mai with a long stare.

Mai met his stare in open-mouthed wonder.

'Oh,' she said finally, 'oh, well, that's all right then.'

Seto continued to stare at her for a few more seconds and then he began to feel his mouth twitch. He eventually had to look away, finding Mai's look of complete incomprehension too much to bear. He looked up at the ceiling and allowed himself to break into grin.

'That's it?' he asked incredulously. 'Do you know how much my psychiatrist would have loved to have heard me say that?'

Mai grinned as well, glad that the tension had passed, 'well, I can always pretend to understand what you just said and we can explore the whole matter some more if you'd like,' she offered innocently.

'No,' Seto said hastily, 'no thank you. Maybe we should just get back to that ludicrous claim you were making about you 'going easy on me' and put it to the test.'

Brushing aside a few pieces of broken glass he shifted his position so that he was mirroring hers, his long legs folded before him. He fixed Mai with a hard stare and then twitched his eyebrow, 'Bring it on,' he growled.

_bdbdbdbd_

Seto had been surprised to find that Mai was able to step up a level with her playing ability giving credence to the idea that she had indeed been going easy on him.

'I'm not in the habit of making idle boasts,' she had explained simply, 'when I say I'm good at something I mean it.'

Seto had revelled at the challenge and had upped his own game to match hers so that they were playing fairly evenly once more.

Somehow, at some point in the last hour, the idea of wagers had re-emerged, although Seto couldn't quite remember who had first suggested it. They had agreed to steer away from money as their concepts, even of pretend monetary bets, differed so massively with Seto happily betting a thousand dollars to Mai's fifty. Instead they bet personal possessions which they each agreed they could place their own values onto.

So far Mai had won two yachts, a jet plane, a holiday home in Bermuda, several works of art and Seto's favourite car. Seto, in return, had managed to pick up a cute black handbag that looked like Louis Vuitton even though she'd brought it from a guy on the corner of Central Park; a pair of 'really sparkly' earrings; numerous clothes and finally a gorgeous pair of sling-back shoes that apparently 'went with' everything in Mai's wardrobe.

'I'm still not convinced that I'm getting a good deal here,' he commented caustically.

'Rubbish, the stuff you're getting is far more important in my life than your stuff is. I mean, when was the last time you went on either one of your yachts?'

Seto gave it some thought.

'And yet,' Mai continued, 'I wear those sling-backs all the time. Therefore, they're much more valuable.'

'Okay then,' he conceded, 'what's next then? I can put up a year-old Mercedes – black, hardly used.'

'Hmm, I'm not sure I need another car – especially if I already have your favourite one,' Mai said thoughtfully.

'What, and I'm really in need of a tiny, black mini skirt that makes your butt look pert!' Seto asked incredulously. 'I'm sorry, I didn't realise we could turn down each other's wager choice.'

Mai laughed, 'okay Kaiba, you may have a point but I'm nearly outta stuff so perhaps we could alter the stakes a little,' she looked at him shrewdly. 'How about I win the next game and you tell me where you learned how to bandage people up so well and so quickly.'

'Are you still going on about that?'

'I'm curious,' she shrugged. 'Plus, as an added bonus you could apologise for being such a jerk about it when I asked earlier.'

'I'm sorry,' Seto said in a mock official voice, 'only one jerk apology is admissible in any stuck-in-lift situation and I believe, Miss Valentine that you already got that earlier.'

Mai sighed in disappointment. 'How could I have forgotten that rule?' she asked smiling. 'But the other bet is still on – you'll tell me where you learned the first aid?'

'_If_ you win,' Seto conceded, 'however, if, as is much more likely,_ I_ win then you… start calling me Seto.'

Mai looked up in surprise. 'But,' she began, confused, 'everyone calls you 'Kaiba'.'

'I know they do.'

'I didn't think you liked people calling you 'Seto'?'

'No one has ever asked,' he said smiling gently at her perplexed expression. 'My staff obviously call me 'Mr Kaiba' and that's as it should be but it does get grating when people my own age do the same. It's been going on since school, even my teachers called me 'Kaiba'. I just find it odd that anyone would think I would enjoy being called by the name of my adoptive father.'

'Well, why didn't you ask people to stop it?'

'It didn't really seem worth it. Mokuba always calls me Seto which is the main thing. Other than that… I was never really close enough to anyone for me to feel it was worth bringing it up in conversation, and as for the teachers, well, let's just say that I was never a teacher's pet and, had some of them known that the name thing bothered me, they would have used it more often just to wind me up.'

Mai nodded, 'I had teachers like that.'

'So, is that a fair bet?'

'Sure,' she nodded decisively, 'let's play.'


	7. The Trouble with Jobs

Half an hour later and the two were still playing. Seto had won the right to have Mai call him by his first name and then had gone on to win the right for her to stop harping on about the bandages. After that though he had lost a game and had to admit that yes, he had once, very briefly, thought about hiring a hit man to dispose of Yugi once and for all.

'Hit men are prohibitively expensive though,' he had added, sardonically, and Mai had dissolved into a fit of giggles. Seto had watched her fondly and had been surprised at how good it felt to make her laugh.

The pair were each battling in their latest game for the right to hear the other's 'worst date' story. Seto, on a losing streak, was mulling over which story he should choose when Mai gave a sudden jolt.

'Ouch,' she said a scowl of pain crossing her face, 'ouch, ouch OUCH! God damn it!'

She began struggling to stand and Seto leapt to his feet, moving quickly to aid her.

'What is it?' he asked anxiously, 'what's wrong? Is it your arm?'

'No,' Mai hissed beginning to hop about on one foot, 'no, it's my leg – I've got cramp.'

Seto smiled, relieved.

'I don't know what you're smiling at!' Mai snapped, 'it's all your bloody fault. You with your goddamn lifts, and your goddamn assassins. OUCH!' she cast him a scathing glance. 'Would it have killed you to put in a softer floor!'

Seto backed up a bit confused by the sudden change in mood.

Mai glanced at him again expecting a rebuke for the comments which she knew were unfair and uncalled for. She was surprised to see, not anger as she had expected, but only a soft look of concern on his face. She gave him the smallest of smiles as an apology before she rested herself against the wall and began twisting her foot in circles, wincing as she did so.

'Need a hand?' Seto asked cautiously.

'No,' she said softly smiling at him again. 'The pain's already going down. Sorry, by the way. I'm… I'm not very good with pain.'

'No shit!' Seto said laughing. 'I thought for a second that you had one of those inner dark sides like Bakura or that Marik kid. One second you're all sweet and playful and the next you're like the bitch from hell!'

'It really hurt,' Mai whined, pouting.

'Come here,' he said moving over to where she was standing. 'Lie on the floor and give me your leg,' he instructed clearing more debris to give her space.

She did as she was told, lowering herself down slowly with her one good arm. He took her leg, prised off her shoe and began massaging the calf muscle.

'More first aid?' she asked playfully.

'This is basic stuff.'

'Not like the bandages…'

'Look,' Seto said sternly holding her leg with one hand and waving a stern finger at her with the other, 'I won the right for you to stop bugging me about that.'

'You're right… I'm sorry.'

There was a pause and Seto was aware that she was still looking at him, waiting for an answer.

'Look, it's nothing really and now you've blown it out of all proportion and made the whole thing sound much more interesting and mysterious than it really is.'

Mai continued to look at him with a small smile and a look of innocent inquiry on her face.

Seto sighed. 'Okay, but don't blame me if you're disappointed by how dull this story is.'

Mai grinned, 'Go on,' she said eagerly.

'When I was seven I joined the Boy Scouts and they taught me first aid.' There was a long pause, 'and that's it.' Seto concluded, shrugging.

'Wow, that really was dull,' Mai said smiling at him, 'although,' she added, 'it's nice to think of you in a Scout's uniform.' She let her head drop to the floor and made a dreamy face. 'Mmmm.'

'Good grief, even my seven-year-old self isn't safe from you!' he teased.

Mai gasped and sat up, grabbing at him playfully she dragged him down so that he was lying on the floor next to her.

'Is your leg better?' he asked propped up on one elbow and looking down at her.

'Much better thank you Seto,' she said politely. 'Although, my arse has completely gone to sleep,' she added in the same posh voice.

Seto laughed and lay himself down fully so that they were both looking up at the ceiling.

'You've got another think coming if you're hoping I'm going to massage that for you as well,' he stated blankly.

Mai suddenly gave a massive yawn, stretching out her body and arching her back as she did so.

'What time is it anyway?' she asked.

Seto lifted his arm up so he could see his watch. '4.30. Why. Is it past your bedtime?'

'4.30? Is that all? I expected it to be much later than that.' She yawned again. 'I'm supposed to be at work in a few hours.'

'I thought you played Poker for a living?'

'That's where I get my main income but I also work at a small casino to pay the day to day bills and tide me over should I happen to go through a not-practically-unbeatable phase.'

'Do you enjoy it?'

Mai gave a short bitter laugh. 'What, working in a seedy club with sleaze-balls using any opportunity to grab your arse or look down your top?... Yeah it's a right laugh.'

'Why don't you do something else?' Seto had propped himself onto one elbow again and was looking at her intently. Again he was experiencing a strong emotion of protectiveness towards her mixed this time with a surprising anger directed towards the men she had described.

'The money's not bad,' Mai explained, 'plus, if you're going to make any serious cash playing Poker, you have to run in the right circles.' Looking across she caught Seto's expression. 'Hey, you know you don't have to worry about me,' she said proudly, 'people learn pretty fast not to try anything.'

'Yes, but –' Seto began, but Mai cut him short.

Propping herself up on her good elbow so that she was level with Seto she gave him a look which clearly told him not to push it. She was still smiling slightly but her eyes had hardened and her voice was cutting.

'Look Seto, I know you're just being sweet and looking out for me but this is my life. It may be cruddy in places but what I do, I do by choice. _My_ choice and no one else's and I'm not looking for anyone to come along and 'save' me. Got it?'

Seto nodded giving her a small smile which he hoped she would take to mean that he understood. He hated the idea of where Mai worked but he truly admired her independence, it reminded him of himself.

He lay back down on the floor staring up at the faintly flickering neon light above. Beside him he sensed the movement of Mai also lying down. They lay for a few minutes in the silence.

'Is that the voice you use to talk to misbehaving clients?' Seto finally asked smiling to himself.

Mai turned her head to face him. 'Pretty scary huh?' she grinned. 'My boss calls that my 'teacher' voice. You're lucky – you only got level one.'

'How many levels are there?' he asked turning his face so that he was starting right into her eyes.

'Six,' Mai said after a brief thought. She turned her head back.

There was another long pause.

'Mai?'

'Mmm?'

'You know our means of communicating with Murdoch and everyone upstairs?' Seto said slowly, clearly contemplating whether or not he should be bringing up the subject.

'Yes.'

'What would you say if I said I could rig up my laptop so that we could have constant communication without having to worry about the batteries going down?'

Mai sat up and looked at Seto excitedly. 'That would be great. Why? Do you think you can?'

Set remained motionless on the floor staring, unseeing at the light above him. 'Yes, I could do it.' He said simply.

'That's fantastic,' she enthused. 'How?'

Seto sighed, 'On the button control panel there's a wire that connects to the mains power. It's what I used to get the main light working again. If I connected my laptop to it, well, it would be like plugging it into a wall socket. We could use it for as long as we wanted.'

Mai looked at him suspiciously, noting his flat voice and despondent sighs. She narrowed her eyes. 'And how long have you known about this?' she asked looking at him squarely.

He shifted his eyes from the light at met her gaze. 'Since I got the main light working,' he winced slightly waiting for her reaction.

'But that was hours ago!' she exclaimed, shocked. 'Why didn't – why did … why!'

Seto sat up and met Mai's astonished gaze with a level look of his own. 'At the time I hadn't found the communications wiring so it was all academic anyway. And then you found the camera and my main priority was to connect to that which is what I did. And then…' he lowered his eyes slightly considering how to explain the next part. 'And then we got through to Murdoch and he said about the bomb and there were all these decisions to be made and I knew that, if I kept the communication line open I would be expected to solve everything, every-little-thing that came up. And I just, I don't know, I just didn't want to.'

'Didn't want to, what?'

'I just didn't want to have to solve everything,' he said simply. He looked at Mai to see if she understood but she stared back at him with that incredulous look that he had almost become accustomed to. He didn't exactly blame her. He'd been wondering at his own decision ever since he had made it.

'But, Mokuba?'

'Well, if Mokuba had been caught up in the blast that would have been different,' Seto stated firmly. 'Of course I would have assumed control and done everything I needed to do. But with him safe, well, that was another excuse to give myself a break,' he smiled to himself and looked again at Mai. 'You know he's a very capable leader. People tend to overlook him when I'm around, they just give all the decisions to me, but I know Mokuba will have everything under control. He'll do a good job,' he smiled proudly.

Mai looked on in wonder. Seto certainly had a habit of surprising her. She'd always assumed that he was a control freak, that he loved making decisions and bossing people about, but then, she thought, she'd also assumed that he liked people calling him Kaiba.

'So let me get this straight,' Mai said slowly, trying to wrap her own thoughts around the idea, 'you get yourself stuck in a lift as a result of someone trying to kill you and, what, you see it as a handy way to bunk off work?'

Seto looked at her for a few seconds, mulling over her simplistic explanation. Finally he nodded 'That's about it, yes.'

'Fair enough, I'm planning to do the same for work tonight – although you may need to get someone official sounding to back me up. I'm not sure they'd believe me otherwise.'

She lowered herself back onto the floor and lay there with her eyes closed. She could feel Seto watching her. After a few moments he too lay down.

'So should I be flattered that you would choose to spend a few hours with me as your only company?'

'Ahh… to be honest I didn't really give you much thought at the time. I just kind of decided. It was a spur of the moment thing,' he turned to face her giving her an apologetic smile.

'Charming!'

'Obviously I'm very glad that you are here.'

Mai laughed. 'Obviously.'

'Seriously, I've enjoyed getting to know you. You're a pretty surprising woman.'

'You're not exactly what I expected either,' she turned her head to look at him. Staring into his deep blue eyes, seeing his serious expression and feeling another rush of feelings towards him she hastily turned away and hid once more behind her customary cutting humour. 'I mean, the mighty Seto Kaiba bunking off work? It's unthinkable!'

'It's not often I get the opportunity to disconnect myself from my work. Spending a few hours idly chatting and playing cards just never happens,' he smiled. 'I mean, ideally I wouldn't be in a lift.'

'At least not a lift with such hard floors.'

'Quite. It's nice though, to just lie here and not have to deal with everyone's questions. I can just forget about it all.'

'To be honest I would have thought the idea that someone is trying to kill you would be pretty distracting,' Mai said, arching an eyebrow at him.

Seto scowled briefly. 'Don't worry. When I'm out of here those bastards are going to-'

He was interrupted by a sudden loud noise that filled the lift and reverberated through his body. The lift began to vibrate sending ripples through their bones. The two of them jumped up in alarm flattening themselves against the wall furthest from where the noise appeared to be coming from, although it was so loud that it was nearly impossible to tell.

'What the hell -?' Mai yelled.

Seto shook his head and suddenly made his way towards his computer. Mai stared after him, confused until she saw the flashing red light of the camera.

He quickly connected the wires and held up the small microphone.

'Hello?' he shouted.

There was a reply but too quiet to be heard.

'You'll have to speak up.'

'Can you hear me now Mr Kaiba?' Murdoch's voice came through the speaker with the slightly muffled sound of the microphone being held too close to someone's mouth. He was loud enough to make out though.

'I can hear you,' Seto shouted back, 'what's the deal?'

'Ah, err, Mr Mokuba sir, he wanted me to warn you that the um, the rescue team will start drilling any minute sir.'

Seto looked at Mai, sharing with her a look of total exasperation. Mai smiled, laughing at his irritation. Seto raised the microphone to say something, but, knowing that he was about to lambaste the hapless Murdoch, she snatched it off him.

'Hi Murdoch, it's me,' Seto noticed that she still managed to get the flirtatious tone into her voice despite its exaggerated volume. 'I think the drilling might have already started, hon,' she said kindly. 'How long do they think it's going to take?'

'Oh, about thirty minutes, Miss Valentine. The biggest delay was in getting the equipment down the shaft but now they're there it should be a pretty quick job. Oh, and Mr Kaiba?'

'Yes?' Seto said in a flat voice, not sure his patience could handle much more of Murdoch.

'Err, Mr Mokuba is with the rescue team. He insisted sir.'

As suddenly as it had started the noise of the drilling stopped; plunging the lift into a silence which sounded strange after the clamour of before. When Murdoch continued he was still shouting, unaware of the change. Mai moved to tell him to quieten down but Seto stopped her with a brief shake of his head. He reached over and turned down the volume on his computer.

'Before he went though he said to tell you that he's had a look at the schematics of the lift and that there should be a way to open a permanent line of communication.'

'Really?' Mai asked in mock wonder, 'Gosh Seto, did you hear that? If only we'd known earlier, eh?'

He narrowed his eyes at her.

'Also sir, we've had a problem with the camera feed. We've not been able to pick up any images since our last communiqué. I was all for trying to get it fixed but Mr Mokuba said not to worry.'

It was Mai's turn to give Seto a narrow eyed glare. He shrugged, feigning innocence.

'One final thing sir, I would suggest that you stand by the far wall, away from the drilling. When they break through it could be quite dangerous sir.'

'I see,' Seto said in a dead pan voice, looking at the wall where the force of the drilling had already caused loose debris to fall away from the wall, he wondered why anyone would think him stupid enough to want to stand there in the first place. 'Let me guess, this _wasn't_ a recommendation from 'Mr' Mokuba.'

'Err, no sir. It's my own recommendation,' Murdoch stated proudly. 'I would hate for any harm to come to you or err, Miss Valentine.'

Mai had to slap a hand across her mouth to stop from laughing out loud. Even Seto found the sides of his mouth twitching.

'Right,' he said, just about managing to keep a straight face, 'well, Miss Valentine and myself thank you for your concern. We'll certainly not stand right where the drills are going to come through.'

He quickly signed off before he too dissolved into laughter.

The sound of drilling started up again causing both to jump slightly.

'Well, you heard Murdoch's inspiring health and safety suggestion,' Mai shouted, 'let's go.'

They both walked across to stand at the far side of the room. They stood, enveloped by the sound, staring at the wildly vibrating wall that was going to be their gateway out. Neither said anything.


	8. Senseless

Mai wouldn't have thought it possible that the noise could get any louder but, as the rescue team continued to make their way to them the sounds of the drills became more and more intense. The noise seemed to swamp her senses; she couldn't think straight, her muscles felt tense from the vibrations and the constant instinct to blink her eyes was making them ache. Occasionally she would look across at Seto, seeing his clenched fist and tightened jaw muscles she guessed that he was experiencing much the same as she was. His eyes were hidden behind his fringe of chestnut brown hair but she could tell that he was frowning. The same frown he would use when dealing with his enemies; the same frown that he used for dealing with people who wanted to be his friends; the same frown that he had used with her just a few hours ago.

She wondered whether this experience would change that or whether, as soon as he was free of the confines of the lift, he would revert back to the harsh, cynical and sneering man that she had known as 'Kaiba'.

'I hope not,' she said aloud allowing her words to be swallowed up by the sound of the drill.

Seto suddenly looked at her, whether he had been alerted by the soft sound of her voice or simply by the fact that she was looking at him it was impossible to tell. He broke his frown to give her a small smile.

And then the lights went out.

The drills stopped and Seto could just make out the faint sound of agitated voices on the other side of the wall. In the new silence his ears buzzed, he allowed his body to relax raising a hand to rub his jaw which ached from having been clenched for so long. He blinked his eyes trying to become accustomed to the dark and trying to rid his vision of the ghostly white image of the now black room. A small movement and an extended groan beside him indicated that Mai was stretching; loosening tense muscles. He could almost picture her arching her back and elongating her neck, cat-like and sensual. He imagined her full lips slightly parted in the exhalation of that sexual sounding moan. He could feel his own heartbeat increasing at the thought of it and his stomach gave a flip as he suddenly realised that he didn't want to leave her. Of course he wanted to be rescued, to leave this cramped environment but he felt sure that, once they were out, everything would change. She would probably revert to the brash and sarcastic woman that he had known in various duelling tournaments. She would almost certainly laugh in his face should he try anything romantic. _A woman like Mai Valentine must be all too used to the hapless advances of men,_ he reasoned.

But, for the moment they were still here, together, and the engulfing blackness gave him the protection he needed. He felt tense again but in a different way, nervous of rejection his stomach tightened and his breathing halted for a few seconds. Wordlessly he reached out a hand towards her, hearing a soft gasp of surprise when he brushed gently against her arm. He hesitated but didn't withdraw his hand. After a moment he felt a warm hand entwine with his.

The voices of the rescue workers stopped and Seto prepared himself for what he knew must be coming next. Mai however jumped when the drills restarted, her hand tightened around his. She moved closer to him and he took the opportunity to pull her in so that, even in the absolute dark, he could feel that she was stood before him and could feel the heat from her body.

Mai stood before Seto. Even with the ever strengthening vibrations coursing through her body she could still feel the rapid thudding of her own heart. Deprived of vision and hearing she concentrated on her other senses. She felt Seto's long slender fingers in her hand, could feel their coolness in contrast to her heat. Although no other part of her was touching him she could sense that he was standing only inches away. She imagined that he would be looking down at her and she raised her head to a point where she supposed she would be meeting his gaze. She pictured his face; so handsome, so serious. She wondered if he was frowning now.

Gently extricating her hand from his she reached forward finding the soft fabric of his top. Softly she traced her hand upwards, eventually feeling the gentle warmth of his bare neck. She felt him tilting his head exposing his neck even more. She held the palm of her hand tenderly against his cheek the backs of her fingers being tickled by his hair, her fingertips delicately passing over the cut above his brow.

He flinched in spite of himself and felt her immediately withdraw her hand. Reaching out he caught hold of her wrist. He rubbed his thumb against the soft skin of her inner arm and then, moving his hand around to her waist he pulled her even closer to him. His other arm snaked around her shoulders, his hand resting on the nape of her neck. In the process he knocked her bad arm and he felt her wince. He immediately backed off just as she had done; he held his arm motionless just inches away from her body waiting for some sort of signal that it was okay to continue.

Mai answered by pushing even closer to him and laying her hand on his chest again, feeling the shape of his muscles and the gentle rise and fall of his chest as she did so. She felt his hands travel up to envelop each side of her face, a soft pressure encouraging her to tilt her head upwards once more. She could sense his face coming closer to hers. His warm breath played across her eyelashes and then, her head tilting even further, her lips met his, brushing against them with a gentleness that belied the surge of emotion that coursed through every inch of her body. She closed her eyes and allowed the moment to engulf her. She found herself reaching up to wrap her hand around the back of his neck, to pull him down further even as she instinctively lifted herself onto her toes. She let her lips part –

There was an almighty crash and a blinding light. Mai and Seto sprang away from each other like two guilty teenagers caught by a disapproving parent.

As the noise of the drills faded back into silence they both stood blinking into the light that was pouring through a break in the wall. A face appeared, grinning and framed with wild black hair.

'Hey Mai, hey Seto. Ya miss me?'

_bdbdbdbd_

An hour later and Mai made her way across a deserted arena towards an area that stood out in sharp contrast to the sleek glass and steel perfection of the main duelling hall. The lift foyer was a mess; the walls blackened and buckled; the floor strewn with debris. As she got closer she could hear voices and she slowed her pace trying to make out who it was. She came to a complete stop when she suddenly heard Seto's voice cut across the mumbling platitudes of the others. She couldn't make out the words but she recognised the tone: harsh and sneering and very angry. She sighed to herself. Since Mokuba's dramatic rescue effort she had seen practically nothing of Seto. His advisors had drawn him away quickly, talking in hushed voices about the press and other troubling issues. She had been left with Mokuba who had been very sweet, taking her up to a private room where Kaiba Corp's top doctor had washed and redressed her wound.

She had tried not to think about her kiss with Seto. She tried to dismiss it as just another meaningless kiss in a long line of meaningless kisses. She felt almost certain that Seto would feel the same way and that, now he could get away from her, he would jump at the opportunity to do so. She was almost completely certain of the fact. But there was a part of her, a long buried, optimistic part of her that thought he might be wanting to see her as much as she had been longing to see him.

As she watched him talk animatedly with his advisors amongst the devastation of the blast she realised that her more cynical self had been correct. She turned on her heel and walked back across the arena to the lift area on the opposite side of the large hall. She should get going anyway, she had promised Joey that she would let him drive her home since he seemed convinced that she wouldn't be able to make the short distance on her own.

'Mai,' a voice cut across her thoughts.

Turning she saw Seto striding purposefully towards her. Her stomach gave a small flutter even as she considered cutting her losses and getting the hell out of there before she allowed her emotions for this rude, arrogant, gorgeous man to deepen even further.

'Mai,' Seto had closed the gap and now stood only a few feet away. He stopped and looked at her intently. 'Are you leaving?'

'You don't want me cluttering up the place.'

'Weren't you going to say goodbye?'

She shrugged, glancing over Seto's shoulder at his advisors who were all staring at her, intrigued. 'You looked busy,' she stated simply.

'Didn't I tell you, I'm always busy?' he said, waving a dismissive hand towards the on looking group. 'That doesn't mean I can't make time for what's important.'

'Am I important?' Mai tried to control her voice, tried to make sure the question didn't seem as important as it felt in her mind. She added a crooked smile to complete the effect of indifference.

Seto looked at her for a moment. He too was feeling the tension and he wondered if he should give a light-hearted answer, to evade the truth and to protect himself from the possibility of being laughed at. Eventually though he simply said 'yes'.

They looked at each other for a long time.

'Well,' Mai said after a pause that seemed like an eternity, 'that's alright then.'

She smiled the smallest of smiles and Seto smiled back.

'Mr Kaiba,' a deep voice called across the room.

Seto didn't take his eyes off Mai, the intensity of his gaze made her tingle. She remembered the feel of those long arms around her the gentle touch of his lips and she just wanted to –

'Mr Kaiba,' came the voice again, more insistent this time.

Mai shuddered briefly, snapping out of her sweet reverie she looked over Seto's shoulder. 'Some guy in a dark suit and sunglasses wants your attention,' she said softly.

Seto closed his eyes and, when he opened them again he was already turning to face his employee.

'Mr Kaiba, sir. I am sorry to interrupt and I wouldn't do so if it weren't important, but I'm afraid the press are becoming quite impatient. The major news programmes are going out at six and they are threatening to run the bomb story with or without your take on it. We must release a statement or hold a press conference as soon as possible.'

Seto sighed heavily. 'Okay Roland. Tell them they'll get their press conference. Set it up in the downstairs conference room and tell them I'll be there in ten minutes. Also, can you get hold of a change of clothes?'

'And a new coat sir?'

Seto smiled and looked briefly at Mai, 'No coat thank you Roland. I'm thinking of changing my style slightly.'

Roland nodded politely and walked quickly away, barking orders into his radio.

Seto turned back to Mai, 'I've got to go.'

'Yeah, me too,' they locked eyes again.

'Mai, there you are! We've been lookin' all over for ya!'

Mai winced as Joey's brash voice filled the room. She turned and smiled.

'I'll be right there hon!' she said sweetly adding, pointedly, 'why don't you go on ahead and get the car ready.'

'Okay. See ya Kaiba, oh about what you may have heard me say earlier… It was just a joke, ha ha,' he trailed off lamely. 'No hard feelings, right?'

'No hard feelings,' Seto confirmed coldly.

Joey ran off, happily.

Seto took a deep breath, taking a small step towards her. 'I've really go to –'

'Yes, right, go. I mean, you've got less than ten minutes to get changed and prepare for a press conference… I don't suppose you need any help with the getting changed bit do you?' she asked playfully raising one eyebrow.

Seto smiled a wide smile. 'I'd better not, although it is very, _very_ tempting.'

Mai smiled. 'Well… bye then,' she took a step towards him.

'Bye,' he moved to close the gap between them.

'How will you contact me?' she asked softly running a finger across his chest.

'I'll find you,' he whispered huskily.

'How –' the rest of her words were lost as he leant down to kiss her.

This time it was stronger, more passionate. His arms encircled her and crushed her body into his. Her good hand reached behind him to the small of his back and down, where she felt the sharp edges of his duelling deck. She parted her lips just as she heard a polite cough nearby.

Once more they both jumped apart as if reacting to an electric shock. She felt herself blush and she turned away, straightening her hair.

'Mai…' Seto's voice was heavy sounding and he seemed to be short of breath.

'I know,' she panted, 'get going.'

'Will I see you soon?'

'I hope so.'

She smiled at him warmly and he grinned back. She forced her feet to turn and walk away even though her legs felt like jelly and every part of her wanted to stay with him here forever. She turned half way to the lifts and watched him following Roland out of the room. Roland was talking intently but Seto was noticeably quiet, catching a glimpse of him in the reflection of a glass panel she thought she saw him smiling.

_bdbdbdbd_

Extract from the six o'clock television news broadcast

'_There was drama today at Kaiba Corporation's New York offices where a suspected assassination attempt on the young CEO, Seto Kaiba, led to him being trapped in an elevator for over six hours. Our reporter, Vanessa Williams, is on the scene. Vanessa?'_

'Yes Natasha I'm standing outside the Kaiba Corp offices on Vesey Street. Witnesses to the event claim that an explosion took place just after eleven o'clock this morning on the crowded upper level of the building. The area has been turned into a dedicated duelling arena for the company's flagship game 'Duel Monsters'. Despite the fact that the arena was full it seems that the blast itself was confined to the elevator foyer area which was empty at the time. However the elevator that Mr Kaiba was travelling in was hit by the blast and fell thirty-two stories before the emergency brakes were able to slow its decent, resulting in Mr Kaiba receiving only minor wounds.

Police and ambulance crews who attended the scene say that it was a miracle that no one was seriously injured.'

'_It certainly sounds like they had a lucky escape Vanessa. But didn't Seto Kaiba hold a press conference this evening?'_

'That's right Natasha, just an hour after being rescued by a team headed up by his own brother; Mr Kaiba called a press conference to discuss the day's events. This is what he had to say.'

**'Clearly this is a very serious matter and, if it is confirmed that it was a bomb, then we will be doing everything in our power to track down the person or persons responsible. Irrespective of their target these people have shown a serious disregard for the lives of innocent men, women and children. People who came to our offices today to enjoy an entertaining display of gamesmanship. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the ambulance crews that came here today and did a sterling job to help those who had been wounded by shrapnel and those who were in a state of shock. With regards to the police, I would also like to extend my gratitude to them for their investigations so far. However, as the CEO of Kaiba Corp I will be initiating my own investigations into the affair and I hope that I can work side by side with the police to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion as soon as possible.'**

_'He seemed to be in pretty good shape, considering.'_

'That's right Natasha, and not just physically, a number of press journalists who have come into contact with Mr Kaiba before have commented that he seemed in unusually high spirits. He even laughed and joked with us all before the conference began which is apparently entirely out of character.'

_'Maybe the whole experience has worked to **lift** his spirits. Ha ha ha.'_

'Ha ha ha, yes, maybe you're right… Anyway, that's all from me for now, from the Kaiba Corp offices this is Vanessa Williams handing you back to the studio.'

_'What an amazing story, don't you think Ted?'_

'Absolutely Natasha, of course this is the same guy who destroyed another of his duelling towers in a fit of pique after losing a game to a rival, isn't that right?'

_'That's right Ted. Rich kids and their tantrums, eh? Ha ha ha...'_

_bd - bd - bd - bd_

_A/N: Well... that's it! Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read this, my first fanfic effort. For anyone who might be interested there is a sequel called 'The Chase' which continues the story of Seto and Mai's rocky relationship and attempts to tackle some of the unswered questions left by this story. _

_Thanks again for reading and especially to any of you who have left a review. It's really appreciated._

_Jen_


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